The gray Commands box and Name/HP/ATB meter are characteristic of the default Final Fantasy IX game settings

PARIS, France. After French soccer player Zinedine Zidane was made infamous for his headbutting incident in the July 9th game versus Italy of the 2006 World Cup, thousands of Final Fantasy IX fans across the internet likened Zidane's name to the name of the main character of their favorite game, Zidane Tribal.

"Heh, it's a wonder nobody cauhgt on already" said a user identified only as "TifaLockheart244" on the #finalfantasy channel of irc.ffshrine.net, "*caught* I mean, he has the same name as our favorite Genome!" Multiple photoshopped images depicting the French Zidane's headbutting in the context of the game's battle system have already been produced by fans. One known picture, now on 4chan shows the Terran Zidane's body Photoshopped onto the action on the field itself.

Zinedine himself, however, was not amused by his likening to the fictional video game character. "First off, I was born long before FFIX was even a glimmer in Squaresoft's eye! If anything, people should've been comparing the game Zidane to me, not the other way 'round! Besides that, I fiercely am against the American localization of video games. The character was "Jitan Toraibaru" in Japan, and there's no reason why he can't be named "Jitan Toraibaru" in America. Also, Zidane, the game Zidane I mean, is a total fag." When this reporter reminded Zinedine that at least he didn't have the misfortune to share the name of Cloud Strife or a character from Tales of Symphonia, Zidane began to fiercely headbutt the reporter.